Facebook flies internet drone

Facebook has carried out a successful first flight of a solar powered drone the social network company hopes will extend internet to remote parts of the world.

Aquila, the company's solar powered plane, exceeded expectations when it flew for 96 minutes instead of the planned 30 minutes.

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg says "we gathered lots of data about our models and the aircraft structure and after two years of development, it was emotional to see Aquila actually get off the ground."

He says there is still a lot of work to be done.

"Eventually, our goal is to have a fleet of Aquilas flying together at 60,000 feet (18,288m), communicating with each other with lasers and staying aloft for months at a time."

Facebook hopes the plane will eventually bring internet to the more than four billion people who aren't connected. They also hope to break the record for the longest unmanned aircraft flight.

(Facebook)

The test flight was carried out on June 28 in Yuma, Arizona but information of the flight's success was only released today.